I am a brand new Verizon Wireless customer, and this happened to me. Beware!

I left Sprint for Verizon barely one month ago, and now my brand new Verizon account is being sold to AT&T as part of something they call a "transitional program". My wife and I have brand new LG Accolade phones, and I have a new Verizon Mifi card that we're being told will be useless, because we have to get new phone from AT&T and switch to AT&T's crap network. Their explanation for this is that they bit off more than they could chew when they bought out Alltel, so their own customers are paying for their mistake.

I chose Verizon because they have superior coverage, and they are the only carrier that works in my workplace. Now I won't have coverage at work....again, because this company sold me out.

Listen closely Verizon.....if I had wanted AT&T, I would have chosen AT&T.

Oh, but it gets better: If I want to stay with Verizon, I have to switch to AT&T, activate the phones they send me, immediately deactivate the phones they send me, call Verizon, and reactivate my current Verizon phones. Funny....the Verizon rep said absolutely nothing about this when he signed me up last month.

I tried dealing with customer service about this, and their response was simple - tough luck....sucks to be you, huh?

So spread the word. Verizon is selling its customers out, especially new customers. If you're thinking of signing up for Verizon wireless, STOP! You may be signing up for AT&T and not even know it!

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN??? This has been planned since Verizon purchased Alltel 20 months ago. THE US GOVERNMENT FORCED Verizon to sell certain markets to ATT. It has nothing to do with Verizon biting off more than they could choose. If they had their way , they would had loved to keep all customers. But the government said no.

You must have a number from a different area than St Johns (Clinton Cty) as Verizon exchange numbers stayed with Verizon and Alltel numbers converted to Verizon.

So there is not a covert plan to switch customers to ATT. It has been well known for a long while.

Which store did you purchase these new phones from and when??? Was it a corporate store??? What is your area code and prefix? I believe those with numbers from those areas convert in March.

We have Lansing numbers, (517) 331 prefix. We've had these numbers for 10 years through three carriers. I just switched to Verizon from Sprint on December 15th, and was told nothing about this by the CSR at the time I signed up. If he had informed me of this, I would have stayed with Sprint in the interim while exploring other options.

Here's what the CSR at Verizon told me. AT&T will send us new phones and require us to activate these phones and switch to their network. She said, however, that if I wanted to stay with Verizon, I would have to activate the new AT&T phones and switch my account to AT&T. I could then immediately call Verizon, re-sign with Verizon, reactivate my current phones and immediately re-port my numbers back to Verizon (of course, who knows how long "immediately" is in the wireless world?). I would then have to contact AT&T, tell them that I have activated and deactivated their new phones, at which time I would have to mail those phones back to AT&T. Sounds like a lot of hassle with a risk of losing my numbers and service in the meantime.

Now, are you telling me that if I change our phone numbers to the 989 area code now, I won't have to go through all this hassle?

While you are correct about one thing, this sale has been in the works for sometime, however while it is not a secret no one corprate or otherwise working with/for verizon is going out of there way to tell people about it. Also your comments about this shouldnt effect you because "_" may be inacurate, and I could be wrong here but from what I have been told your phone number has nothing to do with it, I personaly am one of the sad customers being sold to AT&T, when I first signed with verizon 6+ years ago I lived in an area that was primarily Verizon however at the time of them buying AT&T I was living in an area that was not a verizon area (however still had no connection problems on the verizon network, one of the many reason I love them as a carrier) Anyone living in these areas was placed in what they call a "Trust" market and a certain pecentage of these "Trust" accounts had to be sold to other carriers not sure if AT&T is the only one or if there were other carriers who bought accounts or not but thats beside the point. From what I understand the majority of the "Trust" areas were areas that prior to the buy out were primarily Alltel areas. As to the OP losing your phone numbers will not be an issue re-signing and porting the numbers should not be any different or more difficult than any other time you have ported them as you said you have done so at least once in the past. Also Verizon is not trying to screw you as the other poster said, nor are they out to screw new customers, as I said I have been with verizon for 6+ years. But from another person going through this trouble as you are, I do feel your pain. However I have found my silver lining in all of this, AT&T does not charge any fees to cancel so long as you do it within the first 30 days, and I personaly was not up for a new upgrade on my verizon account untill the end of 2012 so when my service transfers I will be able to sign a new verizon contract and get a new 2 year price phone without the wait. As much as this whole thing is a hastle and quite annoying try to find your own silver lining and remember it will only be a few days of the terrible network at AT&T before you can return to the comfort of Verizon.

Also one of the CS reps I spoke to (In store as they tend to listen a bit better and are almost always more polite) told me he himself has a full 5 lines (of course he does work for them why wouldnt he) that were stuck in the "Trust" market and even he cant get out of it, and will have to go through the same trouble we will. Just remember three things, 1. Your not alone, 2. Things will work out, and 3. Almost every bad situation has a silver lining.

Just to update the last poster. The OP was not part of the trust he lives in the county south of it. The issue came when he ordered a MiFi or a USB Modem online, the system gave him a number in the trust area just north of him.

He has been in contact with corporate and unfortunately he will have to switch at least to make the switch. Then he has contacts to get him back. And his plus, it releases him from his two year contract so he can upgrade sooner if he so wishes.

Damos, fellow trust market customer. Hi! My free at&t phone order has been stuck in processing for the past three weeks. I had an earlier order from October, but I canceled it so I could see if there were more free choices online. There were more choices, but they were still disappointing options.

Hey Ann, yeah I felt the same way I currently have storm 2 on Verizon and AT&T wanted to give me a curve as the "compairable" phone HA! Yeah because a curve really compares to the S2 however at the last moment they made the torch available to me and I was lucky enough to get my order changed. Mine as well has been "processing" for a while now, does anyone know of a way to find out when for a specific area the change will happen, it sure would be nice to know how long I have before the change. Also don't know if anyone can answer this or not but I was wandering if after the switch when I shut off my then AT&T service do I have to return that phone they sent me or would that be mine to keep (cause I'm greedy and want to get even more out of this trouble then just an early upgrade, i.e. A free brand new phone to sell lol)